2005 season: winner and losers

[climb]

I think, at the end of the season, this can be an interesting topic.

These are my choices

Winners:
1) Wheldon: Title, Indy500 and many wins: could he have done more?
2) AGR: once again the season dominator, with 11 wins out of 17 races, with every driver winning at least one race.
3) Honda: when power was needed no room for others.


Losers:
1) Other engines
2) Rahal: despite a very good package, no wins.
3) Penske: pk 3 wins, but Penske's tradition is another thing

[Kicking-back]

You've pretty much summed it up there.

I'm looking forward to the future though - particularly if everyone is Honda powered - things should be even more competitive.

[Mystery]

In addition to the above:-

Winner: Danica - great to see women in the sport, but would be nice to see the rest of the field in the TV coverage sometimes too, but to give her credit she can be very very quick. Still needs to toughen up in traffic a bit though but hopefully that will come with experience

Loser: AJ Foyt - hopefully the experiment of running family in the car will be over. I just hope that doesnt herald the end of the team.

Loser: Darren Manning - I don't think I've ever come across a more unjust sacking in all the years I've been watching motor racing.

Loser: Bryan Herta - is he treated like the red-headed stepchild of the AGR family or is he really that much slower than the others? Only 2 podiums in a team that yielded 11 wins - not good enough I'd say.

Loser: Helio - where did he get to this year? Seems like he's just been blown away by Hornish and often seemed to vanish into the pack

[Snrub]

AGR made almost everyone else look like a loser.

Fernandez was so strong last year and far less so this year.
Rahal was strong last year, but struggled mightly this year. Rice in particular was off.
Ganassi has be struggling a lot of late, it's almost hard to understand why they have supperior finances to some of the other teams.
Foyt sadly proved that his team's problems came down to being stuck in the ways of the past. Foyt IV may not be the best driver in the field, but he hasn't had a chance to show what he is actually made of.

I don't know what I'd call this comment, but Kannan's season was a tad lack luster. His re/starts all season were utterly insain. It almost seems hard to believe that he could do that so well and not have more success!

[Kicking-back]

Well Kanaan was 2nd in the championship so it wasn't partcularly laclklustre

[BootsOntheSide]

Not sure I'd call Patrick a winner. Her pace was impressive, but no more so than Briscoe's, or guys like Scheckter, Yasukawa and other inexperienced rookies. Once she was in the pack she made a lot of mistakes, and hasn't shown any sighs of treally sorting it out. She's on the way to disproving the idea that a woman can't be successful in the IRL, but I'm not convinced she's got the talent to win races. Time will tell though.

[Mystery]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Not sure I'd call Patrick a winner. Her pace was impressive, but no more so than Briscoe's, or guys like Scheckter, Yasukawa and other inexperienced rookies. Once she was in the pack she made a lot of mistakes, and hasn't shown any sighs of treally sorting it out. She's on the way to disproving the idea that a woman can't be successful in the IRL, but I'm not convinced she's got the talent to win races. Time will tell though.

I didnt make myself clear then. Patrick is a winner in my eyes since she's the most highly promoted US open wheel driver in years and yet she's not even in the top 10 in the championship. Winner??? I reckon and then some. Although the rest of your post is spot on and I agree 100%. I'd love her to be successful but not only because she picks up more personal sponsorship than everyone else put together.

[climb]

Among the winners I forgot to mention Dallara chassis, 15 out of 17 races won, with all the engines.

[rustyfan]

Winners: Us fans who finally got to see top open-wheel racing back at the Glen. Somewhat ironic it was the IndyCar Series who did what Champ Car and Formula 1 said wouldn't be possible.

[drewdawg727]

Winner : AGR - That team is stupendous...they're obviously doing everything right if they can dominate the season like that.

Winner : Chevy - for showing their faces at the front of the field several times this year even though there were only a couple of drivers who used the engine

Loser : Rice...all i have to say is what happened? Last year he showed what he was truly all about, and this year he'd qualify at the top of the field and fall midpack within a lap.

Loser : Dixon...to have an IRL champion and to have him not perform up to the standards in the following years. Sure he won one race, but you would often find Dixon in the middle of the pack and rarely up in the front.

[ian_w]

If its considered that the Dallara chassis is better than the Panoz - are AGR really the best team? They are the only Dallara-Honda runners ( apart from DRR who aren't in the same league ) so theoretically have the best package. Is a Panoz-Honda better than a Dallara-Chevy or Toyota?

I put Herta's lack of pace down to his driving - do you really think he gets inferior equipment? He is the Honda development driver, so will probably have all the latest 'trick' bits on the engine and chassis as a prove out before the other guys get them a race or so later. He should be the fastest car on the track, however he only managed to achieve this at Michigan.

[climb]

Originally Posted by ian_w

I.. Is a Panoz-Honda better than a Dallara-Chevy or Toyota?
...

Hard to answer since there is no direct evidence, nonetheless stats say Dallara chassis have won 3 times with Toyota (albeit penske) engines, two races more than Panoz-Honda, or Panoz-Toyota.
This must mean something.

Once said that AGR are undoubtedly an excellent outfit, but Penske, Rahal and some others cannot have become morons all of a sudden.

[Mystery]

Originally Posted by ian_w

I put Herta's lack of pace down to his driving - do you really think he gets inferior equipment? He is the Honda development driver, so will probably have all the latest 'trick' bits on the engine and chassis as a prove out before the other guys get them a race or so later. He should be the fastest car on the track, however he only managed to achieve this at Michigan.

I didn't mean to make it sound like he was getting inferior equipment, although reading my post again, I think I did really. I'm with you 100% - it probbaly is down to his driving. He's got some world class teammates but on this seasons evidence he's just not up to the job. Mind you so are 3 or 4 other regular runners....

[Team Owner]

Winner: Dan Wheldon. He performed so well in 2005 that the skys the limit now on his ability to sign a good contract.

Loser: Vitor Meira. Despite finishing second in the Indy 500 and strong performances in all the other races with very little crashing and consistanty finishing ahead of his teammates Rice and Patrick, he's out of a ride. Hopefully one of the rumors surrounding Vitor here in Indy ( a ride with Panther with Johns-Manville backing, or that AGR has an option on his contract) will come true.

[Xpunk75]

Losers of the 2005 IRL Season.


Honda: They no longer will have anyone to race against after this season except for themselves.

Dan Wheldon: After Winning the IRL championship still could not land himself a seat in Formula 1 because of the lack crediablity the IRL has in the rest of the worlds eyes.

Panther Racing: They no longer the money to support the racing team.

Danica Patrick: Despite huge support and hype could not get a race win all season.

[luke]

Vitor Meira is out of a ride??? How stupid, he certainly deserves one, IMO he's better than Rice or Danica..

[deejay]

Originally Posted by Xpunk75

Losers of the 2005 IRL Season.
Honda: They no longer will have anyone to race against after this season except for themselves.

Ha ha.

Dan Wheldon: After Winning the IRL championship still could not land himself a seat in Formula 1 because of the lack crediablity the IRL has in the rest of the worlds eyes.

Er, yeah right. It's not a matter of credibility that an oval run series champion doesn't automatically go to a solely road-course series. It's a matter of reality. Apples and Oranges etc...

Panther Racing: They no longer the money to support the racing team.

I'll give you that one, they're on a slide.

Danica Patrick: Despite huge support and hype could not get a race win all season.

Rookie of the Year. Didn't embarass herself on track compared to Rice. Single-handedly boosted the profile of the series. A massive winner this year.


1/4

[luke]

I personaly rate Vitor Meira better than Rice or Danica. Danica is good but I think she is overated and the hype but lets see how she does in 2006.

[Bluewolf]

I disagree with these knocks on Herta -- with the added responsibilities of testing parts on race weekends, you don't have as much time to get your race setup as do the other drivers -- Michael Andretti admitted to it when he said Herta's car was the hardest car to get up to speed. {with that statement he might also be alluding to who has/hasn't got the best chief mechanics on the team. If the fourth AGR driver takes over Herta's duties next year -- you will see him running closer to the front as he did when he took over Dario's duties when Dario was hurt.